[deleted] So you can make custom mount point instead of relying existing /media and /mnt ?

Yes, in Linux you can mount things anywhere you want.

[deleted] Can it be done with GUI

Yes, but when it comes to mounting permanent partitions you are better off doing it yourself.

[deleted] like Gparted or KDE partition Manager

Those are good for creating and formatting your partitions but not for setting up your mount points.

myke There might be an equivalent for plasma.

You can run gnome disks in plasma if you want to.

jrsilvey KDE Partition Manager might but it never seems to fix things the way GParted does.

If it doesn't work try GParted. My partner uses KDE and I use Budgie.. I have found that whenever something doesn't work for him.. it will work for me.. because of GParted.

They are both front-ends for parted. While they have slightly different functionality, they bth work fine.

[deleted] Gparted will work whatever DE isn't it ?

Yes.

[deleted] Can I use NTFS in linux ?

You can use ntfs to store files in Linux if you want to share them between a Linux install and a Windows install. However, ntfs doesn't support Linux-style(POSIX) permissions. That means you can't/shouldn't install anything to ntfs partitions and can't easily manage permissions on those volumes.

jrsilvey The journaling systems in EXT4 mean that the transfer times of files is drastically reduced. That means the same drive transferring the same data will have vastly different speeds doing do depending on the drive format.

The purpose of a journaling filesystem isn't really to make transfers faster and even if it was, ntfs is also a journaling filesystem. That being said, I agree that it is better to avoid non-POSIX compliant filesystems like ntfs/fat/exfat when you can.

jrsilvey I have found that for external drives it is best to format them as extended (logical) partitions rather than primary partitions. Primary partitions are intended to boot.

Extended partitions should only be needed on older mbr formatted disks. Extended partitions give you the ability to have more than 4 partitions in this formatted. These days, you should be creating GPT partition tables on your drives which don't need extended partitions.

jrsilvey if any of your drives is a primary partition that has a version of Windows of some kind installed on it then it is possible for that drive to ruin your Linux Bootloader by forcing your BIOS/UEFI to select Windows to load first.

This has nothing to do with primary or extended. It is caused by the fact that when Windows is updated or repaired it will set it;s bootloader as the highest priority. MOst Linux installs do that same thing. It doesn't destroy your bootloader, you just need to change the priority back via your bios or efibootmgr

jrsilvey Drives that can be manipulated fine for me with GParted seem to have issues being partitioned or otherwise manipulated using KDE Partition Manager.

You should be able to use either just fine.

jrsilvey Lastly concerning mount points.. dalto 's explanation seems right but it also seems... complicated. I've heard many people describe the same process but any time I have ever tried those steps I have screwed something up.

In my opinion the easiest way to offer mount points would be to use Disks which is the program featured in the images above shared by myke.

The problem with this approach is when you need your disk mounted in multiple parts of your filesystem. Then you need to carve it up into tons of partitions which is wasteful.

jrsilvey It makes it far simpler to manipulate the mount points than the process KDE has. KDE, to my knowledge, has no ability to run Disks.

You can run gnome disks in kde without hassle.

jrsilvey KDE looks really slick and is highly customizable. Budgie is highly customizable. The thing is you have to dig to understand how to customize it. Comparatively, from my experience, everything is easier when using Budgie.. if you haven't yet chosen a Desktop Environment, I would urge you to try Budgie first.

Choosing a desktop environment is purely a matter of personal choice. The being said, if customization is a priority, kkde/plasma is drastically more customizable than most of the other environments. My recommendation is try them all and then use the one you like the most. Ultimately, they will all run the same software.

jrsilvey GParted will work on KDE if you install it. Installing GParted might bring in GTK libraries though. I ruined my partner's first Solus installation by inadvertently telling him to do things that mixed Qt and GTK libraries.

If you use KDE I strongly advise you to opt for installing Gnome based software through Flatpak even if it is available in the Solus repos natively because it is completely possible to corrupt your installation through mixing the libraries.

You cannot corrupt your system by mixing gtk and qt. The kde version of Solus ships with gtk apps and other than an individual desiring purity there is no reason not to mix them. The biggest issue with mixing them is that there are some look and feel differences that needed to be managed but installing through flatpak will just make that more difficult.

                                  • [deleted]

                                  • Post #12
                                  • Edited

                                  jrsilvey Thanks you, I've been testing with Virtual Box and I prefer how Plasma feels. Budgie(Gnome like apps) looks good but I feels uncomfortable and has weird sensation using it.

                                  Brucehankins
                                  dalto
                                  Thanks you. I really want to rely on GUI as much as possible but not a big deal to dive deeper. It feels like learning more. My plan of NTFS is that since I have two HDD, I will copy files of HDD(1) to another HDD(2). Then, I will format HDD(1) to ext4 and then Copy HDD(2) File to HDD(1) back. Again, Format HDD(2) to ext4 and then distribute files back to both HDDs. Do I need something like ntfs-3g to use NTFS Partition ?

                                  I am backing up files tonight to prepare the next morning. Feeling Nervous

                                          [deleted]

                                          Don't be nervous! We've got your back!

                                          Also despite my anti-KDE rhetoric so far.. Solus KDE is by far the best implementation of the Desktop Environment that I've seen.

                                          There is also great documentation to help. The easiest way to create the installation media is by using Etcher to install the Solus KDE ISO to a USB stick. USB is way faster than a DVD for installation. This link goes over every detail of creating installation media.

                                          Also I didn't see you list your system specs.. traditionally most installs are done through UEFI unless you have some kind of legacy (older) system. There is one big huge important part of the installation that can cause issues for people.

                                          I will link and include the information here.. setting up an EFI partition BEFORE you install Solus is a requirement and can cause all kinds of problems if not done.

                                          UEFI: Link to Documentation

                                          If you are using a system with UEFI, you may need to create a EFI System Partition, also referred to as an ESP. This is not necessary if you are enabling Solus to install onto the entire disk.

                                          To create an EFI System Partition, open up GParted and create a FAT32 partition that is 512MB in size. Next, right-click on the partition and click Manage Flags. On the Manage Flags section, enable the boot and esp flags.

                                          Notes:

                                          Your system must be booted using Unified EFI (UEFI) mode, as opposed to a “legacy (BIOS) mode”.
Secure Boot needs to be disabled.
Your disk is required to be GPT formatted.
If you cannot see your SSD drive, set the SATA configuration to AHCI.

                                          Reminder: when you partition your drive as GPT, format it as EXT4. NTSF will fail.

                                            @dalto Thank you for going to the effort to explain this to me. I think I understand why I've been having so many difficulties with KDE now. I did not know KDE Partition Manager and GParted were different front-ends for the same program. I didn't know that information about Extended Partitions. You made a number of really great points that I just never knew. My degree in computer science was mostly just a reward for finishing college.. I've never applied it to working in technology directly. I am very experienced with computers, building them, using them, software, etc, but certain aspects, like partitions and file systems, have always been very difficult for me.

                                            Since you seem more educated than me on this issue @dalto I would really appreciate feedback on a few things so I have a better understanding of some things.

                                            From what I have read about EXT4 it is supposed to be superior to NTSF. I can't recall exactly what I read.. but here is a StackExchange thread about EXT4 and increased system check speed. I was aware that NTSF and EXT4 were both journaliing systems but I simply thought that the EXT4 journaliing system was superior. From my experience transferring files from NTSF to EXT4 on my partner's computer the EXT4-to-EXT4 transfers feel faster. Am I totally wrong?

                                            I said that Solus would fail on an NTSF drive. I don't know why I said that. Maybe my anti-Windows mentality is peaking out. I was totally wrong. Solus can be installed next to Windows.. I have never done this and I think I just assumed it couldn't be done. I am sorry @[deleted].

                                            Good golly.. now I even understand why I corrupted my system. You are right, @dalto it wasn't the GTK and QT libraries that corrupted the system. It was having KDE and Budgie installed side by side. I was equating different desktop environments and different DE libraries as the same thing. They aren't.

                                            You can ruin your system by having different desktop environments installed. I did it to my partner's computer. You cannot install different Desktop Environments side by side. Solus has documentation that says:

                                            WARNING: Do NOT attempt to install ANY other desktop environments next to KDE Plasma Desktop. This scenario is NOT supported and you will be told so in no uncertain terms if asking for support.

                                            After ruining my partners system (but before seeing the documentation above) I played with Manjaro and multiple desktop environments. I was able to have Cinnamon, KDE, Budgie, and Gnome all running on the same system.. but each had a different user that led to a different desktop environment.

                                            What caused the corruption I had experienced was due to having KDE and Budgie installed side by side on the same user. I just didn't know any better. This ended up creating conflicting config files in the home folder that caused this like.. decay of the theming and appearance. The GTK and KDE themes were fighting with one another. It was the only time that something was so broken on Solus I couldn't fix it.

                                            The part where I was wrong was that grabbing different libraries from different desktop environments isn't the same as installing different desktop environments side by side. I've had Budgie installed on this laptop since March 2019.. I installed Dolphin and KMail and some time later found my system was sluggish.. that was because I had baloo (KDE's indexing daemon) and tracker-miner (Gnome/Budgie's indexing daemon) running side by side. I had brought over tons of dependencies for KDE that slowed my entire system.

                                            I was wrong about why I thought the way I did but in the end I still believe that it is best practice to keep GTK and QT as seperate as possible. WIth flatpaks this is simple.. If you run KDE, install Gnome applications through Flatpak. If you run Gnome/Budgie, install KDE through flatpaks. That prevents pulling dependencies.

                                            dalto You cannot corrupt your system by mixing gtk and qt. The kde version of Solus ships with gtk apps and other than an individual desiring purity there is no reason not to mix them. The biggest issue with mixing them is that there are some look and feel differences that needed to be managed but installing through flatpak will just make that more difficult.

                                            I get what you are saying here. Flatpak theming does suck. However there are ways to theme based on GTK theme.. and in KDE you can set the default GTK theme and then install the corresponding theme in flatpak. Here is an article about that. .

                                            @dalto thanks for helping me to understand one of the biggest sources of trouble I've had with Linux over the last two years. @[deleted] this guy gives great advice. I would trust him about anything dealing with mount points and partitions over anything that I said because apparently I have been just wrong. Sorry!

                                                jrsilvey rom what I have read about EXT4 it is supposed to be superior to NTSF. I can't recall exactly what I read.. but here is a StackExchange thread about EXT4 and increased system check speed. I was aware that NTSF and EXT4 were both journaliing systems but I simply thought that the EXT4 journaliing system was superior.

                                                I don't know if one is better than the other in an absolute sense. I do think that ntfs is not the best choice for a Linux system because of the complexities of making it support POSIX permissions. Between the two, I would always prefer ext4 on Linux and ntfs on Windows. 😆

                                                jrsilvey From my experience transferring files from NTSF to EXT4 on my partner's computer the EXT4-to-EXT4 transfers feel faster. Am I totally wrong?

                                                I haven't done that performance test personally but I wouldn't be surprised by it. That performance would be influenced by a number of factors including driver performance and I would expect that the ext4 drivers would be more performant than ntfs. Especially if you were using the ntfs-3g drivers which leverage FUSE.

                                                jrsilvey I said that Solus would fail on an NTSF drive.

                                                To be clear, it would be very difficult to install Solus on an ntfs partition. However, that is different than storing files on an ntfs filesystem. I still agree with your conclusion that ext4 is a much better choice when you don't need to share the files with Windows.

                                                jrsilvey It was having KDE and Budgie installed side by side. I was equating different desktop environments and different DE libraries as the same thing. They aren't.

                                                Mixing DEs like that is possible but it is messy which is probably why the Solus team doesn't want to support it. The issue is you end up with things conflicting and/or multiple versions of the same type of thing running. They are mostly small issues but they are annoying and everytime something goes wrong you end up wondering if it is because multiple DEs installed. I used to love having multiple DEs installed but these days I avoid it like the plague, even on distributions where it is well supported.

                                                jrsilvey I was able to have Cinnamon, KDE, Budgie, and Gnome all running on the same system.. but each had a different user that led to a different desktop environment.

                                                Yes. That avoids 90% of the conflicts. However, you have to be super careful to never log into the wrong desktop and it creates a bunch of different challenges. I still think the benefit it brings is much less than the pain it causes.

                                                jrsilvey I installed Dolphin and KMail and some time later found my system was sluggish.. that was because I had baloo (KDE's indexing daemon) and tracker-miner (Gnome/Budgie's indexing daemon) running side by side. I had brought over tons of dependencies for KDE that slowed my entire system.

                                                Certainly you should pay attention to what each program brings in. kmail probaly brings in akonadi and the whole kdepim suite which is a big set of dependencies even on plasma.

                                                jrsilvey I was wrong about why I thought the way I did but in the end I still believe that it is best practice to keep GTK and QT as seperate as possible.

                                                One piece of advice I would give you is don't confuse kde/gnome applications with qt/kde applications. Certainly some kde/gnome applications can bring in a huge group of other dependencies but it is not always the case. For example, gnome-disks brings in very little from gnome. The same is true in reverse of an application like krita which brings in very little from kde. It just depends on the application.

                                                jrsilvey WIth flatpaks this is simple.. If you run KDE, install Gnome applications through Flatpak. If you run Gnome/Budgie, install KDE through flatpaks. That prevents pulling dependencies.

                                                Just be aware, you aren't avoiding dependencies this way, the dependencies are just being installed via flatpak. This actually creates more duplication and usage, not less.

                                                                  dalto jrsilvey I was wrong about why I thought the way I did but in the end I still believe that it is best practice to keep GTK and QT as seperate as possible.

                                                                  One piece of advice I would give you is don't confuse kde/gnome applications with qt/kde applications. Certainly some kde/gnome applications can bring in a huge group of other dependencies but it is not always the case. For example, gnome-disks brings in very little from gnome. The same is true in reverse of an application like krita which brings in very little from kde. It just depends on the application.

                                                                  I think my brain must have just assumed gnome-disks would bring in a ton of dependencies. Knowing it doesn't will really help me!

                                                                  jrsilvey WIth flatpaks this is simple.. If you run KDE, install Gnome applications through Flatpak. If you run Gnome/Budgie, install KDE through flatpaks. That prevents pulling dependencies.

                                                                  Just be aware, you aren't avoiding dependencies this way, the dependencies are just being installed via flatpak. This actually creates more duplication and usage, not less.

                                                                  The duplication doesn't bother me. I don't mind having additional storage taken up. What I gain by being able to easily remove the dependencies far outweighs what I lose to the space. For instance if anyone installed KMail (which I do not suggest installing after I used it) through Flatpak could easily remove it and all dependencies without them ever mixing with your system files.

                                                                  After you remove KMail you could then run flatpak remove --unused which would remove any DE versions that were no longer connected to a a Flatpak App.

                                                                  In my opinion it is way easier to do that than to do line by line trying to figure out how to remove dependencies.

                                                                  Having said all of this.. which Desktop Environment do you use @dalto?

                                                                      dalto

                                                                      Ok.. so the majority of my issues with KDE have been solved I think. Your help has been really, really, really appreciated. I have one more question.. if you could help me solve this you would really make my freaking year.

                                                                      My partner uses Plasma. He wants to be able to stream his media to his TV. I have tried everything and I can't get media sharing to work using any programs.

                                                                      I took a USB of Solus Budgie and from the LiveUSB showed him how you could stream media content without any special tweaks immediately, no additional software necessary.

                                                                      Solus Budgie uses Rygel to create a DLNA server that broadcasts your videos and music. It just works.

                                                                      I have tried everything on KDE. Rygel won't work. I figure it's a missing dependency. If there another way? I tried Plex but it's far more complicated. From Budgie when I share multimedia it literally just all shows up on my smart TVs that see DLNA.

                                                                      Is there a program that will make KDE broadcast multimedia over DLNA that works? I've literally tried everything I could think of including a number of different programs (that I can't remember off the top of my head). If you can fix this problem then you have (almost) made me not hate KDE. 🙂

                                                                          jrsilvey Is there a program that will make KDE broadcast multimedia over DLNA that works?

                                                                          kodi? It is widely available and well-supported.

                                                                          There are actually lots of dlna servers that work on Linux and it shouldn't really matter which DE you are using.

                                                                          If kodi doesn't work for you, I can take a look at rygel and try to figure out why it isn't working for you. I have never used it but I would be willing to give it a look.

                                                                            [deleted] no, you should be able to partition and format fine using Gparted, disks, or KPartition Manager.

                                                                            If you need help setting up the automount through fstab, I can try and point you to some articles that helped me, just let me know.

                                                                              jrsilvey I have tried everything on KDE. Rygel won't work.

                                                                              I just tried it because I was curious. The server immediately segfaults.

                                                                              After running it in the debugger and adding debug symbols for everything relevant it is failing due to it's inability to connect to "Tracker3". There were two ways to solve this that I tried. Edit the config file at ~/.config/rygel.conf and disable Tracker3 or install tracker-miners.

                                                                              It is worth noting that kodi worked with hassle. I added the media and then enable the dlna server in settings.

                                                                                  dalto

                                                                                  Thank you. Tracker-miner is the file index daemon for Gnome/Budgie. KDE has it's own called baloo. I think this is something I mentioned today in an earlier post.. starting tracker-miner will mean it is running alongside baloo, doubling processing requirements for the same thing.

                                                                                  Thank you so much. You've literally helped me understand issues I've been fighting with for almost a year that have caused so many issues between my partner and I. It doesn't fix the problem but I understand now .

                                                                                  @[deleted] I am sorry I hijacked your post and I really hope your install goes smoothly. Please let us know how everything and if you need anything ask!

                                                                                      jrsilvey Tracker-miner is the file index daemon for Gnome/Budgie. KDE has it's own called baloo. I think this is something I mentioned today in an earlier post.. starting tracker-miner will mean it is running alongside baloo, doubling processing requirements for the same thing.

                                                                                      That is why I listed the alternative solution of disabling Tracker3 in the rygel config.

                                                                                      That being said, I still think it is easier to just use something that isn't dependent on that like kodi.

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                                                                                        • Post #24
                                                                                        • Edited

                                                                                        Welp, after installation I am stuck on black screen. Although I can use Terminal with ctrl,super,alt f2. Boot using UEFI Mode. I am stuck. Using Nvidia 1050ti

                                                                                        • [deleted]

                                                                                        • Post #26

                                                                                        @dalto
                                                                                        sdc is where i install Solus(SSD). sda and sdb are HDD used for storage only.
                                                                                        Should I format ntfs to ext4 first ?

                                                                                          [deleted]

                                                                                          Yes, format first assuming you already have the data backed up.

                                                                                          When you format them, the UUIDs will probably change.

                                                                                              • [deleted]

                                                                                              • Post #28


                                                                                              well, i am using disks to format drive. It shows Quick or Full. I chose Full and it will take me 3hr long. 😅

                                                                                              • [deleted]

                                                                                              • Post #29


                                                                                              dalto I've completed formatting sdb1 to ext4. Should I use Disk to mount or add it manually ?

                                                                                                • [deleted]

                                                                                                • Post #30

                                                                                                This is how I do things:

                                                                                                1. I have 1SSD and 2HDD so I installed Solus on SSD

                                                                                                2. Then I Copied files from HDD(G) to external hard disk so that drive is available to format to ext4.

                                                                                                3. After formatting HDD(G) I copied files from HDD(E) to HDD(G) so HDD(E) is now available to format. Linux can mount and copy file from NTFS so it works. 😆

                                                                                                1. Then fstab to automount those two drives.

                                                                                                  After google-fu, I found something interesting. I make a new directory like dalto suggest and use it as custom mount point.


                                                                                                This works. I've restarted and the drive automatically mount.

                                                                                                Thanks you everyone for helping me Install Solus Linux. I appreciate every help 😁